


Reminders

by Halmaithor



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Grief/Mourning, Multi, Past Character Death, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-07 21:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21224369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halmaithor/pseuds/Halmaithor
Summary: Vax is gone, and Vox Machina grieve.





	Reminders

Sarenrae has a new paladin. The halfling standing before Pike, taking in every careful word of guidance in an effort to learn better healing, is fair-haired and dark-skinned. Every time she walks, her boots thud across the floor like she’s borrowed the gait of a goliath.

But she prefers daggers to longswords or maces, and that’s enough. 

Still, it’s nothing new. Pike sees him all the time anyway, every time a doubtful heart comes to the temple and leaves feeling a little less lost. ‘I… I’ve never really had much in the way of _faith_,’ some of them say, clearly anxious about rejection.   
But each time, she smiles broadly, warmly. ‘Well, you don’t need to worry about that. Her light has reached those with far less, trust me.’

***

It’s nearly winter, and as the trees in Zephrah go bare, the raven nests become visible in the highest branches. The birds themselves are flocking in greater numbers now, settling in for a season of foraging. 

From where she’s sitting, Keyleth can see two young women up ahead, and a faint giggling can be heard as they steal away from a group of their friends. They’re crossing the garden with a sense of urgency - but before they disappear beyond the hedgerow, the long-haired brunette catches the arm of her companion, pulling her in for a kiss and awkwardly reaching up to tousle her blonde bob. 

The lovers’ laughter fades again as they vanish from the garden, and Keyleth lets her sadness follow suit. Remembering that side of what she’s lost is painful, but that’s not the part she thinks about the most. More commonly, his praise and his belief in her bloom within like a second heartbeat, lending her strength against self-doubt. 

_I’ll never be that far away, _he said. So far, he’s kept that promise, and she’s grateful. 

***

Vex sees him everywhere. He’s in the mirror whenever the light’s a little too low, he’s in the nonchalant expression of her eldest girl when she plays a trick on a friend. And although he never speaks to her, she knows that he’s in the ever-increasing population of Whitestone ravens. 

He’s _everywhere_, and it fucking sucks. But if living in fear is a waste, then living in anger is worse, and so her only option is to try. 

Well-meaning friends and acquaintances wish her a happy birthday, and she just smiles and says thank you, avoiding Percy’s knowing gaze. (When he hands her a birthday gift later that evening, he simply kisses her cheek and says ‘I love you, darling.’)   
Cassandra mentions something from her and Percy’s childhood, and she laughs with them, quelling the envy she feels because Cass still gets to be a sister.  
Scanlan gets her name wrong one day, not long after the final battle. The room immediately goes silent, but she breaks it with a low chuckle. ‘I’m _Vex_, dear. Perhaps you ought to borrow Tary’s flashcards.’   
(’What flashcards?’, asks Kaylie, and as Pike begins to explain, Vex takes the opportunity to subtly wipe her eyes.)

When she finds the blue feathers in the Parchwood, years later, things are better. Trinket’s bumbling alongside her as usual, bones weary from battle and fur greying at his snout.  
Vex stoops down to pick up the feathers - they’re bright and beautiful, and rare this far north. She considers them for a moment, and raises a hand to the black feathers already tucked behind her ear as if to replace them. 

But instead, she slides the blue feathers gently into her pocket, looking up at a skittering of dark wings in the lower canopy. ‘You can braid them in for me later,’ she calls. ‘You were always better at it than I was.’

There’s no answer, of course, but that’s okay. She’ll wait. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. This is another one I'm really proud of, so do let me know what you think!
> 
> Find me on tumblr:  
silver-latin-and-salt.tumblr.com


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